Scratched back to Xero

Roughly 2 years later.

I got enough money to retire early when I released my first album. I could go and look for Vinyl now, and bring her home. What kind of trouble has she gotten into this time? Why did she never tell me? Is she safe? I kept asking myself these questions over and over. I traveled all over the place, asking nightclubs, bars, studios, anything involving music if they had seen my sister.

The most grateful that I've been was when I went looking in Canterlot, and stumbled across one of our princesses, Luna. She asked me what was wrong, with a look of worry in her eyes. As I told her that I was looking for my sister, she had sent the city guard to search Canterlot and ask everypony if they've seen a white mare with a blue mane. I decided I would go see Elvaire, my marefriend, and ask her if she had seen her.

Sadly, nopony in all of Canterlot had seen her, and I decided to go back to Manehatten, everything came to a blur as the tears fell from my eyes. I started walking back to the train station after thanking Luna for her help, and knelt before I was on my way.

"Loyal subject, we ask that you be so kind as to give us your name."

"Oh right, sorry, Luna. My name is Xero, Xero Scratch." I said dumbfounded at my impoliteness

"We ask that you come back to Canterlot soon for a visit, and we do hope you find your sister soon."

With that, I took my leave and felt a bitter-sweetness during the ride home.

I went into a deep depression, and I stayed in my recording studio for weeks. My manager, Tim, wasn't happy with me, he'd never seen me this upset. I told him about my sister and what happened, he told me to take as much time as I needed to get back into producing. I took a month off and started to get back into producing and DJ'ing. I passed the months by, remaining a small time producer and an unknown DJ, but I always had cash flowing in.

I never payed much attention to it, I just continued on living and making music, I started making collaboration songs with other EDM artists, and they sold quickly. I was still unknown, but I decided that it was time I went on tour, I needed a change of scenery. I played quite a few shows and got minor recognition, the crowd seemed to forget about me pretty quickly, like always.

I traveled to the largest cities; Stalliongrad, Fillydelphia, the far city of Seaddle , and even the Capital of the Griffin Kingdom: Gryphus.

Stalliongrad was in the middle of a war, so I was paid to help lighten the mood of soldiers while they were off duty, they paid very generously. I even got a neat hat, I think it's called a "Ushanka"? anyways, it had the army's crest on it, and it's very warm and fuzzy.

Fillydelphia was a very loud city, and they loved to party, so I got a large venue to play for, even if the crowd was unruly. It was an interesting experience there, but I don't think I'll be going back any time soon.

Traveling to Seaddle took awhile, about a month to be accurate, and when I got there, I was welcomed with open hooves. It was one of the first times I had felt happy to see a new city, and I played at quite a few clubs since I might as well have stayed for a bit since it takes a month to get back home. I learned that music wasn't a big thing there, and I had met a lot of nice ponies, and got a few gifts, and I even got a picture taken for me and put in the news paper, as "The DJ who brought joy to us through music." I felt so happy that I could make a difference in the views of ponies towards music.

The last place on my tour was the city of Gryphus. As frightening as it was, to be in  the heart of the Griffin Kingdom as a pony, I needed to get over the fear, and play some music. The griffins were amazingly courteous and even helped me set up my show, provided free security and provided me with a living space. I couldn't let them down for the show I was going to play. I was infront of 4,000 griffins screaming for music, and as I played my final show, I saw that music feeds the soul, and brings joy.

When I got home, I had been so tired from constant travel, I lied down and slept for the next two days, upon waking up I noticed I had mail at the door. It was from my manager, and it wasn't good news. My sales were down, and that meant he was getting less money, sales meant nothing to me as long as I enjoyed what I did.

I didn't care anymore, I had nothing and I just wanted to find Vinyl, so I kept going being cautious with my money. I decided to get back into DJ'ing at clubs and festivals. We had a huge festival coming up soon, it was Mixcon, and I sent in my application the day they started taking them in, I got selected to be the 4th to play, I was excited to play, for once.

I know Vinyl has always wanted to go to Mixcon, and maybe seeing her brother preforming will make her show up. I started working on a new song, and I was going to make it my best one yet. Hopefully this will get me more recognition, and make things easier for myself. I know a lot of the DJ's playing, only a few that are new, and I wasn't planning on being shown up by any of them.

I decided to go under the alias of Fynn, and I managed to finish the song in the 2 weeks preparation time. I decided to use a different style of music, a mix between rock and trance. I named it after the fact this is my one last shot at fame.

Two days, two days left until the festival opens. I actually feel anxiety about this, and I've never felt this way about preforming, I can't believe this is all happening. I hope that Vinyl is somewhere in the crowd, so she can see her brother rise to the top. She's all I have left, and I lost her, I just wanted to have her back and give her everything she wanted. I know she had a reason for leaving, but why didn't she tell me?

I needed a drink after all the memories poured back into my head, I passed out around 4am, or I think it as 4am. I woke up with a pounding headache, and bottles everywhere, it looks like there was a party in here. I looked at the clock, and it was 3pm, I looked at the date and it was the 17th of the month. I flipped out, "I've been gone for two days?! The festival is today and I need to get there by four, for my set!" I bolted into the studio to grab my record and headed over to the festival as fast as I could.

Wondering if my spot was revoked or not, was worrisome for me, and I didn't want to lose this opportunity. I felt like everything was balancing on this one show, as though it would decide my fate. I held on to the record like it was more valuable than anything, and I managed to think of a name for the song, "Edge of Fate". Vinyl would love it, she always got excited when I produced new songs.

After rushing to the festival, I managed to find my way through the masses and to the stage area. All I could hear was the roar of the crowd, drowning out any words that the other producers said to me. The first producer was about to go on, his name was Milo, and he played at the last festival, his music sounded amazing. He was done after only 5 minutes, then the next one, Dom finished after a 10 minute song, which didn't sound half bad. Sam was the third to play and she... didn't sound so great, she got upset when the crowd didn't like her music.

Then, it was my turn, the crowd was in an uproar, and wanted good music. I just reached a new level of nervousness, and I needed to make the crowd happy. I went up on to the stage and got my record out. But then I noticed that there was another producer on stage with me, she had her face and mane covered, so I didn't know who she was. There was a note on the turntables that read "Just play along with it, we need to keep the crowd happy."

I looked at her cautiously and wondered what she was up too.

She started to play a smooth trance song, so after 2 minutes into her song I decided to make this into a producer battle, I hopped in with my song and she sat and listened as I played the best set of my life, and we continued that for a good 20 minutes before both songs ended. I grabbed the mic and said to the crowd

"I'm Fynn, and this is -" I said looking at her

"DJ PON-3"

"So who do you think had the better song?" I said while raising my voice.

The crowd cheered with the answer of both of us. She decided it was time to take the mask off, and I was shocked at the blue mane with teal stripes. It was my sister, Vinyl, she finally came back home. She stared at me and laughed, then proceeded to walk away from the stage. I was confronted by my manager, Tim, telling me that he was getting call after call about getting me signed onto a label. He asked me which I wanted to sign with, I told him I'm quitting the music business. He was shocked and I began to walk away.

I didn't know if that was really Vinyl, or if it was only a dream, but I do know that the crowd was cheering loudly, and I had gotten my recognition. My career in the music industry finally had closure, and I could quit worrying about getting my name out in the world.

I went back home and I put my record in the basement, but then, as I walked back upstairs, Vinyl was sitting there waiting for me. She began to cry and told me "Xero, I'm so sorry I left all those years ago. I just... I needed to find who I am and where I belong." She turned her side to me to show her cutie mark, I was amazed and happy for her. I forgot all about her leaving and I was just happy she was back.